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Lacrosse has taken Bear Davis far away from his native Hilliard, to points east as distant and varied as Pittsburgh and Prague.

But tonight, in the third decade of Davis’ coaching career, it will bring him back to Ohio.

Davis, hired by the last-place Ohio Machine to replace fired coach Ted Garber on Monday, will make his Major League Lacrosse debut tonight when the Boston Cannons visit Selby Stadium in Delaware.

The first faceoff will occur only hours after Davis met almost all of his players. MLL teams generally practice once a week, on the night before games, but last night’s practice was postponed because of travel difficulties. A walk-through was scheduled for this morning.

Davis has spent almost his entire career coaching college and high-school teams. He spent a summer in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, working with the nation’s fledgling national team.

He will learn the pro game, with its shot clock and two-point arc, on the fly.

“It’s going to be a bigger adjustment for the coach than it is for the players,” said Ray Megill, a Machine defenseman and seven-year pro. “With the way it’s structured, coaches never get to have that feeling of control, that feeling of knowing their team is ready.

“We’ll talk about a game plan, but that is going to come more into play in the weeks to come. I think he’ll be more focused on figuring out who we are and what we are.”

Davis, who lives in Maryland, has seen the Machine play once this season, catching a game against Chesapeake on television last month. Before yesterday, he knew one Machine player, midfielder Kiel Matisz, whom Davis coached during three of his seven seasons at Robert Morris University.

So Davis, with much to learn, planned to take a fundamental approach to tonight’s game.

“You’ve got to put a lot of stuff into an hour and a half of practice, and then go play a game,” Davis said. “That’s kind of what youth rec. ball is like. So you figure out what (are) the most important five things, and you either correct those or game-plan around those. It’s somewhat (like taking) baby steps.”

Davis faces a tall task. The Machine (1-7), filled with rookies and second-year players, has struggled to score and has lost six games by five or more goals.

“We’re not good right now and it’s going to be hard to come in and make us good all of a sudden,” said Machine attack man Connor Martin, who won’t play tonight because of a back injury.

“But (Davis) plans to play an up-tempo style and really push the ball in transition, and that’s MLL. He’s said the right things so far.”